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Commodore (retd) Ashok Sawhney is a retired Indian Naval officer. Currently, he is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted unanimously on 30 November 2009 to extend for another 12 months a mandate for member countries to conduct anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, to include “entering the territorial waters and undertake all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia”. Earlier the same month during a session on “Piracy and the situation in Somalia”, the UNSC members criticised the practice of paying ransom and stated that the coordinated fight by navies from several countries had failed to deter the pirates.